Any and all writers/painters/dancers/singers/whatevers should read this post: “Why I’m not afraid to take your money.”
If I had the spunk that she does… I could buy twice as much ramen!
Any and all writers/painters/dancers/singers/whatevers should read this post: “Why I’m not afraid to take your money.”
If I had the spunk that she does… I could buy twice as much ramen!
5 responses to “Attention all artists!”
Pure unabashed bad-ass-ness. She rocks, both figuratively and literally.
Frankly, there HAS to be a response to changing the standard method of art distribution. Self-publishers are salivating right now because big publishing houses are teetering from clinging onto their business model so hard.
I’ll tell you right now that, though I rarely do it, I feel no guilt about downloading music. I remember when Napster first came out (I was in computer-science college at the time, and went crazy because of how cool the concept was). People were still on dialup, broadband was a relatively new concept. IF the record companies, instead of whining and pushing artists like Metallica forward to shake the finger at us, had embraced the new delivery system, we’d be light years ahead of where we are now. It took Apple (iTunes), and probably a crap load of legal jargon for licensing, to break that barrier FAR after it should have been done.
And, frankly, if I ever get popular enough that people are illegally downloading my work, I’m quite certain I won’t care. As Henry Rollins once said, “I’d rather have your time than your money.” Yet another reason he’s my hero.
.-= • Recent post by Todd Newton: A Subtle Misunderstanding =-.
Ideally artists wouldn’t have to worry about money at all, whether a third party was collecting it for us or we were treated as royalty for what we bring to the world. But even partly ideally, that is, somewhat realistically, I dislike the idea. Any time we spend on marketing is time wasted, in my opinion. And that’s divorced from my feelings on how the artist becomes tainted by these things. Just like I think our work becomes clouded by our increased presence (through blogs, Twitter, etc.), the same occurs when dealing with money.
Regarding Todd’s quote, I think that could change depending on the artist, and maybe the time of day. I’m not about to write something just to sell it, but I started in on this because it made me happy, and I thought I could make a living out of it. Not because I thought I’d change the world. Now I’m starting to think differently about it.
.-= • Recent post by Eric: Lost Highway =-.
I think I’d rather have people’s time AND money, lol.
I just don’t like asking for it — as Eric said, in my ideal world, the artist wouldn’t have to touch the money side of it at all. I don’t know if I think it taints the art, I just know I don’t like dealing with it. :P
“I started in on this because it made me happy, and I thought I could make a living out of it. Not because I thought I’d change the world.”
Me too. :)
I’ll take your damn money, so that I can sit at home in comfort and write instead of squeezing it in on my lunch break at work.
.-= • Recent post by Les: Yawwwwn =-.
There’s a quote from Woody Allen I like–something like “people forget it’s show business, emphasis on the business.” It’s true–gotta make money, gotta hustle, if an audience doesn’t appreciate that then they should try to pay rent on several part time jobs and a little income from writing one day.
Thanks for sharing the post.
.-= • Recent post by Jon: First Contest! =-.